


Serpents of Black Ice

by RegalMisfortune



Series: Gods of Our Time [8]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Lunar Skins!, Zarya doesn't have any speaking parts in this but she is present, a bit of an extention after 'indignant' but can be a stand alone piece, just uncomfortable, of a sort, sombra is definitely not scared of snakes nope, this series is a disaster, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-25 20:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13842219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RegalMisfortune/pseuds/RegalMisfortune
Summary: Moira gets an unexpected visitor inside her laboratory's refrigerator.





	Serpents of Black Ice

There was a snake inside her laboratory refrigerator.

Moira paused, the door half open with her hand still frozen on the handle, gazing down at the strange reptile that had taken residence inside the machine. The creature was massive, coiled up carefully around corked vials and sealed packages with scales as dark as Reyes’- _Reaper’s_ \- attire with the faintest green sheen in certain lighting. An equally black tongue flitted out, green eyes eerie and unblinking.

Slowly Moira shut the fridge door, staring at the snake through the clear glass. There was no logical reason for a snake to be in her lab- let alone in her fridge. Reptiles were cold-blooded, they sought heat sources, not refrigerators. Their location had state-of-the-art security, plus Sombra- not even a fly could get in without something or _someone_ knowing.

Unless… of course… a god put it there.

Moira tilted her head, peering at her newfound guest as it flicked its tongue out once again, content being in the cold. It wasn’t of any species she recognized, not that she particularly knew much about snakes in general. They weren’t the best specimens to experiment on, not when there were mammals that made more accurate readings for when such experiments turned to humans- or simply skipped that step and went straight to human test subjects. With her homeland of Ireland having no natural snake residents, and her work keeping her from finding them in their natural habitats, she had very limited contact with the creatures.

Still, it was an odd creature for the Vermilion Bird to leave behind. The deity has been true to her word, always causing disturbances, breaking things, occasionally scolding her while heating the room to furnace temperatures and ruining her samples. There was no rhyme nor reason to when or where the Vermilion Bird would show up- sometimes she even appeared during meetings during her trips back to Oasis, unseen by all but bringing heat into the room that made the hot air outside seem cool.

But to leave a snake… Moira would expect a bird, maybe even some cute, furry creature that would hiss fire and burst into spoke like the deity’s feathers. Snakes were not the Bird’s domain, but the Black Turtle- referred as the Mysterious Warrior in Ireland and common enough in Oasis- when it was spoken.

Snakes carried a bad reputation in many cultures, the more superstitious folk thought of them as harbingers of evil even on a good day. Moira took it all with a pinch of salt as the saying went.

Perhaps she was overthinking this, Moira mused as she slowly popped the refrigerator door open once more. It was most likely just a ploy by the Vermilion Bird to confuse her, regardless of the fact that gaining another deity’s attention would be quite exciting. And from one few knew about… it would be intriguing indeed.

“Come here,” she told the snake, inching her hands carefully into the fridge. She wouldn’t pass the Vermilion Bird to give her a serpent that was even a little bit venomous, but it would not be enough to kill her. Most likely it would just burst into a sudden rush of heat and ruin all her samples while scalding her hands, maybe even bite her, but the Bird was far too kind even in her ire to simply just kill Moira outright second-handedly. And she would be damned if she gave the Vermilion Bird the upper hand in avoiding the creature entirely, or trying to keep it at a distance. That would be a display of weakness, and Moira would take the venomous bites over trying to find a pole long enough to handle the thing safely.

The scales were cool against her fingertips as she gingerly worked her fingernails around the coils of muscle, keeping an eye on the snake’s head for sign of agitation or it was about to combust. It simply flitted its odd black tongue at her and slowly began to move, its gradual coil moving around her wrist as it crept its head up towards her sleeve. Not threatening, not threatened, just simply trying to stick its nose into someplace it didn’t belong.

The serpent was almost two meters long- a fact that Moira quickly realized as she finally hefted the creature out of the fridge, forcing to attempt to put some of its heavy coils across her shoulders. The snake itself seemed quite content with its new location, muscles curling but not too tight around the back of Moira’s neck as it draped its cool scales against the warmth of her skin. It did not explode, it did not bite- instead it’s head drooped over her other shoulder, turning this way and that with its tongue flickering out occasionally to taste the air before settling down and simply just… sitting there.

“Aren’t you a curious thing,” Moira murmured, half dry and half intrigued. “The Vermilion Bird must be losing her touch again.”

The snake did nothing at the slight jab, except perhaps opened its jaws in some sort of near-unhinging yawn.

Moira carried the creature towards an empty terrarium where she usually kept her animal test subjects. It was empty- has been for some time now- but it would be enough to contain the serpent while she thought about how to deal with it. It seemed quite disgruntled at being moved from her shoulders, its coils tightening as they wrapped around her arm as she lifted it up to set it inside.

“I have work to do,” she told the creature, and- surprisingly- it relented, if a bit begrudgingly, as much as a snake could do such. It flicked its tongue at her as it curled itself up within the glass container, green eyes watching as she set the lid down and latched it closed.

Well, at least that was taken care of. It still didn’t seem like it was about to explode into fire at any moment, but it was contained so if it did it would at least wouldn’t damage anything too important.

With a swipe of her fingers, Moira awoke the projections of her work, humming lowly in her throat at the sight of seeing them relatively intact. Perhaps the Vermilion Bird _was_ losing her touch… or plotting something far more nefarious as she would allow herself to be. Still, it was quiet enough, and while she was wary, Moira took the chance to get some decent work done in some relative peace.

The peace lasted all morning and well into the afternoon, until out of the corner of her eye the laboratory door rippled with an eerie purple light before fading quickly, the lock clicking open as Sombra waltzed in.

“Don’t you have anything better to do?” Moira sighed as the Hispanic woman hopped up onto the empty counter space beside the projections of her work.

“Nope,” she said with a curled smirk. “Gabe’s off somewhere, Amélie is on a mission, Akande is meeting up with that Vishkar tool, and I haven’t invaded your haven in quite some time, so… I thought I’d come by. Have a nice little chat. Make friends and all that.”

“Grand,” Moira replied so dryly a desert would be considered damp. Her eyes dropped to Sombra’s hands, and the other woman lifted them, fingers splayed in defense.

“Hey, I’m not here for an ulterior motive. _Lo prometo._ ”

“Hmn.”

Moira flicked her fingers across the holograms, causing them to disappear in a blip of color. It caused Sombra to sigh dramatically, letting her hands drop.

“Fine, don’t believe me. Let’s see how far you get the next time you-“

Whatever Sombra was about to say was cut off by a choked scream of surprise that made even Moira jump, her head whipping around to stare at the other woman while said woman was yanking her feet up to the counter and staring down at near Moira’s feet. She was quick enough to see the end of a familiar black tail slip into the shadows underneath, and her eyes snapped towards the terrarium she had left the serpent in.

The latch was undone and the lid was ajar. Possibly had been for some time.

“ _Dios mio_ ,” Sombra breathed out between a plethora of curses in Spanish. “When on earth did you get a _snake?!”_

“Don’t tell me you are afraid of them,” Moira quirked an eyebrow as she carefully knelt down to the floor to peer under the counter. A pair of green eyes caught the dim lighting that gleamed from the ceiling above her.

“Of course I’m not!” she retorted indignantly, although the pallor of her face and slight shake in her voice said otherwise. “They’re just… evil, slimy, creepy things.”

“Serpents of all shapes and sizes are not slimy,” Moira replied, carefully reaching into the shadows to pick up the massive coils. The snake allowed it, tongue flicking out as she lifted out of the dark in the same motion as she stood. Sombra leaned as far back against the wall as possible, eyeing the creature as if it was about to turn rabid and attack her. “And no reptile is evil. They do not have the cognitive ability to arise higher than their basal instincts.”

Sombra made a face at the massive snake that was now draped over Moira’s shoulders like an elaborate scarf, its head lifting to almost stare at the Hispanic woman who shuddered slightly.

“Well, since you are not afraid of snakes,” Moira began, her lips curling into a bone-chilling smile. “Then perhaps you would not mind holding this one for me?”

“Oh, oh no, no no no-“ Sombra failed to scoot away before Moira lifted the snake over her own head and across the slender Hispanic’s shoulders. She froze under the heavy weight as the snake stuck its tongue out again but otherwise remained perfectly still. It was a tense one minute and fifteen seconds- Moira counted- before Sombra moved, her fingers twitching with unease as she lifted it up before gently giving the snake’s side farthest away from its head an awkward pat. The tenseness in her face eased a bit as surprise flitted in, braving in running her fingers across the scales a short way.

“You’re… not slimy at all,” she murmured, causing Moira to snort.

“I already told you they weren’t.”

“Well, I didn’t know that!” Sombra scowled at the doctor. “Most people would take a shovel to its head than let it get away alive. And most snakes I get stuck dealing with are the nasty rattler kind.”

Moira half wanted to tell her that she didn’t know if this snake was most likely also venomous, but she held her tongue and favor of rolling her eyes.

“You are such a child,” she muttered, causing Sombra to squawk before freezing once again as the snake began to move, lifting its head to stare at Sombra with its odd green eyes, black tongue flitting out at her.

“Hey, uh…” Sombra trailed off, eyes shifting over from the snake to Moira then back again, her mouth pulling into a shaky smile that was growing more confident by the second. “Want to show off your new friend to Gabe when he comes back? You’ll be in for a real treat.”

Moira tapped a finger against her cheek, her gaze falling to the serpent as it turned its head towards her to watch her instead. It then bobbed its head, once, twice.

Moira blinked, then smiled.

“You know, I believe that would be quite the social experiment.”


End file.
